The difference between driving and riding might illustrate two ways in which people journey through their lives. It is a dangerous thing to drive 281 kilometers in an Alberta winter, when the temperature is 40 below. There is black ice here and there, and there is often the threat of yet another blizzard. I have driven that highway on several occasions in exactly those conditions. You might call that “white-knuckle driving.” But to sit in the relative comfort of that train-car with a good book, or a game to play with kids, and to look out the window to see a blizzard which can’t touch you, that is a different way to travel. One trip involves anxiety and worry. The only worry in the other, is whether or not your friend is going to be at the station to pick you up.
The Lord Jesus addresses a very common sin in His sermon at this point. It is one of which most of us are guilty to some degree quite often. And some of us are guilty of it to a high degree very often. It is a sin which is really quite shameful when found in a Christian. It might have many names, but let’s just call it what it is – “Worry.”
When the Lord said, “Take therefore no thought for tomorrow,” He was saying, “Don’t worry about tomorrow.” As I have already said, He was not condemning the making of plans for tomorrow or next week. It is not only not sinful, but it is wise to try to think ahead to some degree. In some ways, I wish that I had made better plans for today, forty years ago – and twenty years ago. The Psalmist said, Lord, “teach us to number our days that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom.” We should build our house upon the rock rather than the sand, knowing, but not worrying about the fact that there will be storms blowing upon our houses from time to time. “If the Lord will, we shall go into such and such a city, and continue there a year, and buy and sell, and get gain.” That is, if the Lord will, we shall live, and do this, or that.” – (James 4:13-14). Opposed to God-directed planning, worrying about tomorrow is not only not wise, it is sinful.
There are occasions in the Word of God, when God commands or forbids things and doesn’t explain to us the precisely why. At times the Lord leaves us to figure out those reasons logically. And sometimes we may never figure them out, because the “Lord’s ways are higher than our ways.” But then sometimes the Lord carefully explains why He issues those commands. And this is one of those well-explained prohibitions. “Take no thought for your life what ye shall eat or drink.” First, because your life is more than food and clothing – verse 25. Second, because your Father in Heaven, Who loves you, knows what you really need – verse 26. Third, because the providence of the Lord will take care of tomorrow when we get there – verse 34. This scripture teaches us not to worry. Worry is contrary to the lessons of nature, contrary to the gospel and contrary to the providence of the Lord.
Think first about the NATURE of worry.
Verse 25 – “Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on. Is not the life more than meat, and the body than raiment?” Everyone trusts some sort of god. That is true of everyone, including the professed atheist. The god in whom we trust may be named “Jehovah,” or evolution, or fate, or Allah, or whatever. Quite often it is the trinity: “me, myself and I.” Everyone trusts their special god for their bodies, its creation, its height, and its sustenance. We cannot help ourselves, but to trust in our own special god. It is a part of our nature. Whoever that god is, he is the source of our lives, so we trust him to some degree to maintain it. Christians know that this God is Jehovah.
The Lord here forces us to ask ourselves: “what use is it to me to worry about things such as food?” Keep in mind that this is really a segment of a larger question – life versus death. It takes food to keep us alive. Generally speaking you and I have no control over the length of our lives, but if we keep food in our bodies, usually we will keep on breathing. One of the things that I am reading right now is a collection of thirty-two Baptist biographies. One article described the life of W. B. Riley. Riley, along with Canadian T.T. Shields, J. Frank Noris, Ben Boggard and others, unsuccessfully fought the invasion of modern theology into American churches. Riley was born in 1863, and he died in 1947 – think about the expanse of those years. He was born during the Civil War, and he lived through the Spanish American War, and the War to end all Wars, and the Second World War as well. Did he always eat well? Probably not – he lived during the days of the Great Depression. He survived the days of the deadly influenza epidemic and through the dust bowl. From time to time, he probably j-walked, crossing streets in the middle of block, and he survived. He probably sometimes drove too fast on icy, Minnesota roads. He also fought in dozens of spiritual battles, and yet he lived well into his 80s. Why did he live so long? Because that was the will of God for his life. Period. Ultimately, even when we include suicide in the equation, life is dependent entirely upon God.
The Lord Jesus tells us to think about God’s care of His creation. Jesus refers to the birds and the flowers. A botanist may say that the lily is more important and more beautiful than the sparrow. But the ornithologist would say just the opposite. Yet neither one would say that their favorite subject was more important than his wife. And neither would sacrifice one of his children in order to save a flower or a bird. But that is exactly what Jehovah has done for thousands of unworthy segments of his Creation. The Lord says that God cares for the needs of His creation – and that includes you. Every time you see a beautiful flower, a stately eagle, or a wild turkey, that should be a reminder that worry is not fit for a Christian. The Lord takes pleasure in His creation and more particularly in His servants.
Something else which our Saviour seems to emphasize is our inability to help ourselves to any great degree. Those flowers and birds don’t plant seed or sew clothes. But not only does God care for us far more than for them, He has given to us the ability to sow – and sew. So ultimately, we have even less cause for worry than these tiny, insignificant bits of creation. That is, we can have some influence on tomorrow, while many other creatures can’t. And we should approach that opportunity with reverence and awe: “If the Lord be willing, tomorrow, we shall do this and that.” The sweat of our brow is not just a part of the curse, it is a blessing of God and a bit of glory as well. We ought to plan for tomorrow and include hard work in the plan – but worry is out of place.
Notice that the Lord Jesus said, “your Father feeds them.” He doesn’t say that their Father feeds them. As funny as it sounds, God is merely the Creator of lilies and sparrows; but, as Christians, He is our Father. We are above Jesus’ examples in so many different ways. Perhaps you have heard the old, old illustration about the little boy on board the old sailing ship in the midst of the terrible storm. Some of the passengers were terrified that the ship would sink and everyone would drown. But the little child was as cool as a quart of cold ice cream. When someone asked him if he was frightened, he said that he wasn’t the least bit afraid, because his father was the captain of the ship. Isn’t our Father the captain of our ship? Or have you tried to wrest the captaincy from Him?
Another reason not to worry I will call the LESSON OF RELIGION.
Verse 32 – “(For after all these things do the Gentiles seek:) for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things.” Worry belongs to the heathen – it is sin. Isn’t it the tendency of the heathen to emphasize earthly things over spiritual things? Having no concept of the spiritual, what else do they have to consider? Heaping up riches, and worrying about the protection of those treasures, is a part of that man’s religion. But one doesn’t have to be rich to participate in this kind of religion. This is why Jesus said, “Ye cannot serve God and mammon.” Worry about the collection of wealth, and the worry about what we have already amassed, are closely related.
Part of godly religion, however, is the “setting of our affections on things above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God.” It is to encourage ourselves to visit the fatherless and widows with the desire to share what God has given us. Anxious care borders on idolatry according to the contest of that verse Colossians 3. John Wesley used to tell his people that it was less a sin to curse and swear – than to worry. Worry is evidence of a serious lack of trust in Jehovah. It is a religious problem, a spiritual problem. It saddens, blights, destroys, and impoverishes the soul.
That is because worry is based on a misunderstanding of the character of the Lord. “Your Father knoweth that you have need of these things.” But the god of the heathen is far removed from the interests of his pitiful people. The Lord careth for us, and is even pleased that we bring our cares to His benevolent throne.
So Jesus encourages us to “seek first the Kingdom of God.” To tell a person not to worry isn’t much of a help, I admit that. But if we can fill the void in that person’s life with a love for the things of God – there is something real. Nearly all of us who reach the age of 60 have at some point struggled with trying to loose weight. It is difficult, because dieting usually leaves a void, an empty place in our lives. In fact it’s more than one empty place. But weight loss is greatly enhanced if we can make a substitution; like drinking water or exercise. The reduction or elimination of worry is greatly enhanced by filling the void with the things of God’s Kingdom.
Christian, seek the Kingdom of God – serve God, study God and solicit God.
And finally, worry is contrary to PROVIDENCE.
“Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.” Different scholars interpret this in different ways. But one of the common interpretations is that each and every day brings its own bundle of problems. If we start holding on to today’s problems, saving them for tomorrow, we are just adding problems to problems. But even worse, if we start worrying about tomorrow’s problem’s today, we move from adding to multiplying. Maybe we should try to compartmentalize our lives, at least in this one area. Nearly every modern ship, has doors by which the interior of that ship can be compartmentalized. If water somehow gets into one compartment, hopefully, when the doors can be shut and sealed that water can’t spread and sink the ship. That is the way that we need to approach the problems which the storms in our lives create. Compartmentalize, compartmentalize between days and weeks..
What does worry do? Does it guarantee that tomorrow will or won’t have its problems or its sorrows? Despite our imaginations, we can’t even be sure that tomorrow will have any sorrows. But certainly our fretting about what may or may not come our way doesn’t help. What our worrying about tomorrow does accomplish is the destruction of our strength and joy today. Worry is a proven medical killer; it poisons the nervous system, digestion, circulation and other things. If all the facts be known, worry has probably killed more than cancer ever has. It may be a contributor to most heart attacks, ulcers, and strokes, as well as hundreds of other plagues in Western civilization. Worry certainly robs people of their sleep – the God-given rebuilding time that our bodies require.
Generally speaking, God gives Christians power to cope with the trials that He permits into our lives. “There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man, But God is faithful, who shall not permit you to be tempted above that which ye are able, But will with the temptation also make a way to resist.” But God has not given us any promise to help us with the trials which we imagine for ourselves. Here are two things about which we should never worry – Things that we can’t control, and the things that we can deal with, right now.
A French soldier in World War I carried this recipe in his pocket. “Of two things I am certain: I will be either at the battle front, or I will be behind the lines. If I am at the front, I will either be in danger, or I will not be in danger. If I am in danger, I will either become a casualty, or I will not become a casualty. If I become a casualty, I will either die, or I will recover. If I die there will be nothing that I can do about it; and if I recover that would be good. I therefore see no reason to worry.
There is one flaw in this little illustration: “If in this life only we have hope, we are of all men most miserable.” I don’t know whether or not that soldier’s philosophy included the life which is beyond death. For those who have sought the Kingdom of God, not even death can give us something to worry about. But for those who are yet in their sins, their problems will have just begun when they die.
I don’t want you to worry about being hit by a semi-trailer truck on your way home from church today. But I would like you to ask yourself whether or not you are fully prepared to meet the Lord if that tractor-trailer did meet you on your way home from church this evening. Do you possess a Bible-based confidence that you have eternal life? Is the Creator and Sustainer of all creation, also your Saviour, your Lord, and your King? I don’t wish to cause you to worry, but I would like you to consider whether or not you have grounds for peace. Are you a child of God by faith in Christ Jesus?